EithelSirion's 75 Gallon DIY SPS & Gorgonian Reef

[EithelSirion]

Upcoming are some growth progressions of each SPS coral since starting back up with sticks. You'll notice the diminished polyp extension from May/June to October. This is from my Genicanthus lamarck angelfish which while I was told that genicanthus angels are not polyp nippers, mine certainly is. The nipping hasn't significantly affected the growth rate of my acropora but the growth form has become more compact and the corallites are more distinct, I believe in an attempt to shield the polyps. When I check the tank when all the lights are out, polyp extension is the same as it always has been over the nighttime.

And before someone thinks it has to do with feeding, she gets fed 6-7 times a day and forages constantly for other food including SPS polyps.

Here's a video of the little demon angelfish.

 

[EithelSirion]

Here is one of the first tester acros. I stuck it into a less than optimal location and you'll see that this is some of the least growth of any coral I have.

BC Purple Miser 2.0 - January 2023

BC Purple Miser 2.0 - May 2023

BC Purple Miser 2.0- October 2023

 

[EithelSirion]

Bali Green Slimer (Acropora Yongei)
Of course there was good growth from this, although it is less growth than some of my other acropora. Took a little bit of time to encrust and settle in compared to my expectations.

January 2023

March 2023

April 2023

June 2023 (top and side views)

July 2023

October 2023 (top and side views)

 

[EithelSirion]

Here is the growth progression of Montipora setosa. Frag came in with a bald patch covered in algae. You'll see that the region was healed over without any need for intervention in time.

December 2022

March 2023

June 2023

October 2023 (with a Panamic Barnacle Blenny)

 

[EithelSirion]

Reeftech Starburst Montipora capricornis
I took many frags from this colony both due to its good growth rate and its shading of the lower SPS frags (poor planning of placement on my part)

November 2022

February 2023

March 2023

April 2023 (Top-down view and end-on view)

June 2023 (Top-down view and side view)

July 2023 Top-down (I took multiple frags from the colony after this image to reduce shading of acropora below the colony)

October (Top-down view and end-on view)

 

[EithelSirion]

Another montipora that was an early introduction was Montipora spongodes. This frag originally came in after a shipping issue and 3+ days in the bag (and cold weather) and took several months to recover from a bleached out mess. Here are the images after healing from the shipping issues onward.

November 2022

April 2023

June 2023

July 2023 (second image is after trimming the colony to make more space for the BC Pearly Cadaver)

October 2023 (you can see that it lost the direct war with the BC Pearly Cadaver but has tried growing around the acropora branches and building a wall to prevent too much losses from the BC Pearly Cadaver colony.)

 

[EithelSirion]

This is my best growing acropora coral. I got it from Adam at BattleCorals in February and it took off right away with no hesitation. A lot of the photos of this coral don't do it justice. Those outer blue tips are really special. Originally my frag/colony had brownish internal polyps and corallites like the images on the BattleCorals site, but lately the brown has transitioned to a beautiful purple to match the internal branch tips.

Perhaps the mounting sideways assisted in the growth. this is the only Acro I've mounted perfectly horizontal like this.

BC Pearly Cadaver!

February 2023, right after shipping. Notice the purple in the polyps which was lost for a few months while settling into the tank.

April 2023

May 2023

June 2023

July 2023

October 2023

Here it is winning the coral warfare and encrusting the skeleton of the Monti spongodes:

And below is the most accurate picture I have taken of the colony. All of these pictures in this thread were taken with an iPhone camera and this required a little bit of editing to produce the coral the way I see it with my eyes every day.

BC Pearly Cadaver!

 

[EithelSirion]

This next coral has an interesting story to it. I got the first frag locally in November, and then I got a second frag from Adam at BattleCorals in February. In April I decided to mount the two frags next to each other in the hopes they would grow together and fuse (and hoping they were indeed the same coral). When they were mounted in different places in the tank they had totally different appearances aside from the white lines on their polyps but when placed under the same area they suddenly looked very similar again.

What is interesting is that the branches under the center brace, receiving primarily blue lights and blocked from the direct white LEDs, show much nicer color in all growth since remounting than the new growth in the other regions of the colony. Maybe one day the whole colony will look as good as those right side growth tips do.

Nevertheless, Greg Carroll Acroberry!!

Original frag in November 2022:

Both frags mounted near each other in April 2023:

June 2023, showing the new growth under more blues on the right side of the BC sourced frag:

July 2023, showing more of the nice new growth:

October 2023, where the two frags grew together with their branches (still no fusion of the encrusting portions yet):

Here you can see the center brace blocking the reflection of the white ReefBreeders LED towards the new purple/blue growth:

And some side shots from October 2023:

Greg Carroll Acroberry!!

 

[EithelSirion]

This frag I haven't had very long but the growth has been good on it so far.

Tyree Blue Matrix!

June 2023: tiny little booger frag

October 2023: The neon green rims on the axial corallites really pop in person

 

[Tangs-A-Lot]

I like the gorgonians. I have one so far, a purple cactus/candelabra one. I plan to get 2 or 3 more to have a small section of them. I recently came across this one that looks real nice (and different color wise).

 

[EithelSirion]

I like the gorgonians. I have one so far, a purple cactus/candelabra one. I plan to get 2 or 3 more to have a small section of them. I recently came across this one that looks real nice (and different color wise).

I really like the one Plexaura flexuosa I have, it’s a purple one. I’d be intrigued to see a lime green one, never seen one with any green in person. That picture looks more like other plexaura and Eunicea species I’ve had with white skin.

 

[EithelSirion]

This coral came in pretty much green and looked a little bleached for the first 4 weeks. It may have had something to do with settling into my tank or the fact that I stuck it right up near the surface. Either way, with new growth the tips look really spectacular and the base regained its fluorescence under blue lighting.

Most pictures I saw online of this coral before purchasing do not accurately display how it looks for me under my lighting. Most of the old images online were probably taken under MH or T5 where the coral was not displayed in its best, with a dull brown base color and purple tips but no yellow axial polyps. The images on the BattleCorals website are the closest in color to how it looks in person for me. This is an oldie that is still spectacular under any lighting.

Copp's Calacali Acro!

June 2023

July 2023

October 2023

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Love seeing all the coral pictures!

 

[InvaderJim]

Loving the documentation of the sps growth. Makes you feel good when you go back and look at how much they have grown

 

[EithelSirion]

This next coral has grown very well for me but the colors have dulled as of late. It also used to have great polyp extension until the Lamarck Angel got a taste for polyps. There's one spot in the middle of the colony that's always barren that the angel loves to nip at, so this may be contributing to the color dulling. Either way, this coral continues to grow.

BC Bohemia!

February 2023

March 2023

April 2023

May 2023

June 2023 (I think this is when the colors looked their best)

July 2023

October 2023

It may eventually blossom once it reaches full colony size. Only way to find out is to wait and see.

BC Bohemia!

 

[EithelSirion]

Loving the documentation of the sps growth. Makes you feel good when you go back and look at how much they have grown

Thanks so much for following along!

 

[EithelSirion]

Here are a few shots of the tank this morning with natural sunlight coming in through the window. When the light changes with season, certain shaded portions of the corals near the base get blasted by direct sunlight and bleach and/or die back, but they always heal up again after a while with no damage to the rest of the coral.

Full tank with a cameo from one of my cats^

 

[EithelSirion]

This next coral I got from Adam at BattleCorals as ATL Tulip Milli. It started out with similar colors to the images I've seen online but lately all of the new growth is hot pink without any of the orange or green I would've expected. Either way, a spectacular Acropora millipora!

ATL Tulip Milli!!

Feb 2023

March 2023

April 2023

May 2023

June 2023

July 2023

October 2023

ATL Tulip Milli!

 

[EithelSirion]

This coral has started to pop tips out the vertical growth the last couple weeks, and has always looked a very pleasant yellow. I'm sure plenty of people have this in their tanks.

TCK Pikachu!

April 2023 just after shipping:

June 2023:

July 2023:

October 2023:

TCK Pikachu!

 

[EithelSirion]

In anticipation of the upcoming BC Blue Ghost Growout Contest, I decided to finally test the tank.

I'm in the "test if something seems off" group but since I don't do water changes regularly, the parameters don't sway too much besides sudden increases in uptake from my SPS. I dial in how much kalk I add to the top off depending on the pH swing. I want the lowest point of pH to be no lower than 7.95 pH and the daily swing from high-low to be no more than 0.20 pH units. I add kalk based on this and my other dosing is Tropic Marin All-for-Reef on a doser that I slowly increase dosing quantity from month to month as the SPS grow in. If the pH is requiring a lot of kalk additions, I increase the AFR dose more, decrease the kalk dose, and continue.

Either way, below are the parameters as of yesterday:
Ca: 525 ppm
Mg: 1260 ppm
Alk: 10.5 dKH
Salinity: 1.027 (36 ppt)
Temp: 76.8-77.2 F
pH range: 8.02-8.19 (7am-10pm)